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CHAPTER III. 



AT THE EDITORIAL DESK. 



IN the last days, then, of 1839 Hugh Miller proceeded 

 to Edinburgh to edit the Witness. He stepped into 

 the arena alone. His wife and infant daughter he left for 

 the present at Cromarty. Taking lodgings in St Pat- 

 rick's Square, in the old part of the town, he applied 

 himself with ardour and assiduity to his task. ' In weak- 

 ness and great fear,' diffident of his power to maintain 

 the conflict against ' well-nigh the whole neAvspaper 

 press of the kingdom,' he was nevertheless ' thoroughly 

 convinced of the goodness of the cause,' and willing to 

 devote to it the whole energies of his mind. ' I found 

 myself,' he was soon able to say, ' in my true place/ The 

 Witness started with a circulation of about 600, but the 

 high character of its articles at once attracted attention, 

 and it became evident in an exceedingly brief period 

 that an immense accession had been made to the power 

 with which the majority in the Church acted on the 

 body of their countrymen. And from the first, the per- 

 sonality of Hugh Miller was felt to be too massive and 

 original to be absorbed in the anonymity of journalism. 

 The voice of the Witness was known to be his voice, and 



